Sussex Police are asking for an extra £10 million to help fund new "community wardens" (The Argus, February 11). This increase will result in an extra £8 per year on a band D property.

Sussex Police already receive a considerable sum from the Government for the new Community Support Officers and, with this in mind, rid their service of beat officers. The negative impact that this has had has been dramatic.

Seaford, Newhaven and Peacehaven are blighted by vandalism that is so orchestrated and significant that, in the past three months alone, about £500,000 of damage has been inflicted on these three towns.

Their residents are sick and tired of a police authority that allows the police to focus on traffic issues and a scaled-down police presence in the guise of Community Support Officers.

It is apparent to most townsfolk that the policing we are getting is simply not working.

Chief Constable Ken Jones says he cannot "put a bobby on every street corner", but all we need is a return the beat policing we had in the 1990s.

Furthermore, the magistrates who preside over the handful of cases that ever arrive in court fail to properly deal with the culprits.

Last November in Lewes Youth Court, Sussex Police applied for an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) against a young offender. The magistrates decided this was inappropriate.

So why couldn't an ASBO have been placed on this youth? Despite all the fanfare regarding ASBOs, magistrates have not used this effective criminal justice mechanism to the advantage of the townsfolk they serve.

Isn't it time we had beat officers back and magistrates who reflect what the law-abiding citizen wants to see happen to those who commit such appalling social and criminal damage?

-Henry Page, Newhaven